Volkswagen is making rapid progress in digitalising its sales activities and developing new business models. Today sees the launch of the Volkswagen AutoAbo subscription model in Germany. Customers can take out a monthly subscription for the best-selling all-electric ID.3 and ID.4 models – the ID.3 costs from EUR 499. “This will enable us to achieve a key milestone in our Business Model 2.0. As part of our ACCELERATE strategy, we are continuing our rapid and systematic transformation from car manufacturer to mobility services provider,” explains Klaus Zellmer, Board Member for Sales and Marketing at Volkswagen. In addition, Volkswagen will be launching its online leasing and sales offerings in Germany toward the end of 2021. Initially, to sell models from the ID. family, but the platform will later be made available to dealers to offer combustion engine and hybrid vehicles as well.

“A growing number of people don’t want to own a vehicle permanently, but would like the exclusive use ofone for a defined period. The Volkswagen AutoAbo is a flexible new subscription offering that is mid-way between leasing and car sharing,” says Zellmer. “We estimate that, by 2030, around 20 percent of our revenue could come from subscriptions and other short-term mobility offerings.”

In the months ahead, Volkswagen will be making more than 2,000 nearly-new used cars available via AutoAbo, creating one of the largest such subscription models in Germany. Customers can choose between the ID.3 and ID.4, so all-electric vehicles only. Volkswagen is thus marking a further milestone on its Way to Zero and extending its sustainable mobility offering for everyone. The subscription model has been devised in conjunction with Volkswagen Financial Services, which is the Group development centre for car subscription models.

Dealers to be fully involved

The AutoAbo model is available with three-month and six-month minimum subscription periods. Thereafter, customers can terminate their subscription whenever they wish. Zellmer says: “The contract covers everything except electricity.” In concrete terms, this means 800 kilometres per month and a full-service package with registration, roadworthiness tests, maintenance and servicing, insurance and road tax. As a special offer to mark the launch, customers can have a car delivered to and collected from anywhere in Germany with 14 days’ notice. In the future, cars will be delivered via the dealer network. You can find more information at www.volkswagen.de/autoabo.

The dealer network will be incorporated into the subscription model right from the start, for example, when it comes to maintenance and repairs. The network’s integration into the model will be intensified gradually so that dealers remain the Volkswagen brand’s face to its customers. At a later date, the plan is for customers to be able to sign up to a subscription at their dealer. “We will continue to make full use of the advantages of our strong dealer network,” says Zellmer.

Online leasing and sales to start at the end of 2021

At the same time, the company is making rapid progress in digitalising its sales channels as part of the ACCELERATE strategy. Just a few months after launching the AutoAbo subscription model, Volkswagen will be offering online leasing and online sales, initially for models from the ID. family but then also for new and used cars with any drive system. The dealers and their vehicles will be fully integrated into Volkswagen’s central digital marketplace at www.autosuche.de.

In this way, the car maker is seeking to reach a larger customer base and generate additional revenue. “We are responding to changes in customers’ purchasing behaviour and enabling them to conclude contracts at a dealer or online. In both cases, we need a strong online presence coupled with the customer proximity and local presence provided by our dealers. A strong brand is based on a promise and trust,” says Zellmer. The dealers will remain crucial partners in online sales as well. Customers will choose their preferred dealer to advise them, provide service and deliver their vehicles. The dealers will receive the same commission as if the vehicle had been ordered from them directly.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

Multifunction display

The multifunction display, a compact information unit, is positioned directly in front of you on the dashboard for your convenience and safety. It lets you see important information at a glance, without taking your attention from the road.

Active Info Display

Thanks to Active Info Display, you can enjoy the advantages of an instrument cluster with a high resolution colour display. With various information profiles, you can decide which specific data are displayed in the instrument cluster in addition to the usual gauges such as the rev counter, speedometer and odometer.

You can select this information profile quickly and easily using the optional multifunctional steering wheel: depending on your precise needs, you can access detailed Driving Data, for example, or show a visual display of your driver assistance systems. This means the display area can be even better used, because you can also show additional data within the dials.

In the Discover Navigation Infotainment system, you can decide whether you would like to see the navigation map in the Active Info Display, or have the classic view on the system display. With Discover Navigation Pro, both display options are available simultaneously.

Active Info Display 12.3" - V1

With various information profiles, you can decide which data is displayed in the instrument cluster in addition to the usual gauges, which include the revolution counter, speedometer and odometer.

Active Info Display 10.3" - V2

An upgrade of the Active Info Display V1 (above), you’ll have more options which can be altered through the infotainment system. For example, the entire infotainment screen can be used to display audio, telephone or navigation.

Virtual Cockpit - 12.3”

The virtual cockpit can be tailored to each individual driver who uses the vehicle, and can be adjusted by using buttons on the multifunction steering wheel. The system can be used to display a large map, and the zoom function can be enable without having to use Discover Navigation Premium.The cockpit has 16 different settings to choose from, but it can also be run in Auto mode, which shows the relevant driving information depending on the person driving. 

On the occasion of the internationally anticipated reopening of the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin on August 22, Volkswagen and Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin are going to announce a two-year extension of their long-lasting partnership. This step underlines stability and sustainability of this collaboration which will particularly aim on prolonging and expanding the Volkswagen ART4ALL visitor program.

Over the years, the partnership has empowered a variety of acclaimed exhibition and performance projects including a series of eight 3D concerts by the electropop group Kraftwerk. The stage performances took place in 2015 in the Neue Nationalgalerie originally designed by Mies van der Rohe and comprehensively renovated by British star architect David Chipperfield. With its reopening the Neue Nationalgalerie will become part of the Volkswagen ART4ALL program offering visitors one day of free entrance every month. Similar to Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin where Volkswagen ART4ALL was originally launched and is now being continued, free access will be granted to exhibitions and collections as well as to different education programs.

The partnership is led by a joint commitment to aim for an inclusive access to culture and the arts by inviting a wide audience to cultural experiences. Benita von Maltzahn, Director of Cultural Engagement at Volkswagen, explains the approach: “By developing and firmly establishing ways to engage with culture we have offered many people with a chance to learn about artists and their work. We help to make knowledge, inspiration and education available to everyone interested, assuming our social responsibility as a company and bringing the idea ‘culture for all’ to life.”

Joachim Jäger, Director of Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, adds: “Leave the temple, enjoy the museum. Volkswagen ART4ALL enables Neue Nationalgalerie to reach out for a wider and more diverse audience. This program is intended to attract people who haven’t visited our museum before and it is that kind of new program that it needs to try new museum formats.”

At Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin its director Gabriele Knapstein is convinced by this the partnership and the jointly developed event format: “Between spring 2018 and winter 2020, Volkswagen ART4ALL at Hamburger Bahnhof was not only used by numerous visitors but also received a lot of appreciation. During the lockdown, Volkswagen ART4ALL went digital and we are now sincerely delighted to continue and expand this successful visitor program over the upcoming two years.”

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com

Volkswagen is strengthening its expertise in the integration of automotive software. At present, high-performance automotive functions can only be achieved by networking many individual software and hardware components. Integrating these components and testing the resulting assembly is a key development task for Volkswagen. As part of its ACCELERATE strategy, Volkswagen is seeking to grow automotive software integration and the digital customer experience as core competencies. The company has therefore established a joint venture with TraceTronic, a world-leading provider of solutions to test and integrate automotive software. Each partner holds 50 percent in the joint venture, named neocx, which will create a continuous integration/continuous testing (CI/CT) factory.

This is a platform which brings together high-performance tools for the automated testing and integration of automotive software and networked services. In this way, Volkswagen aims to accelerate the development of digital functions such as over-the-air updates, which are provided to the owners of ID. vehicles every three months. Prior to this, the updates are to be integrated and tested with solutions from neocx. This makes the new joint venture a key contributor to the development process.

Thomas Ulbrich, member of the Volkswagen Board of Management with responsibility for Technical Development: “With ACCELERATE, we have set ourselves the goal of evolving the car into a software-based product. The safe and efficient integration of software into our vehicles is therefore a critical competitive factor for Volkswagen. Our new joint venture, neocx, is a cornerstone in strengthening our expertise in this area so we can offer our customers a first-class digital driving experience.”

Rocco Deutschmann, CEO of the TraceTronic Group: “We are pleased that Volkswagen has chosen to partner with TraceTronic in the large-scale implementation of a CI/CT factory for Volkswagen and its suppliers. Deploying our TraceTronic software tools and expertise, we can help our customers worldwide with the continuous integration and testing of automotive software using state-of-the-art methods.”

Far shorter development cycles and faster updates

The neocx CI/CT factory is to provide scalable development and testing tools in response to the exponential increase in the size of software packages and data volumes in fully networked vehicles. It will make it possible to incorporate individual software components into integrated systems – such as driver assistance systems – at an early stage of development in order to test their compatibility and performance. The high-performance solutions from TraceTronic are the basis for this approach. In addition, the partners aim to consistently expand the functional scope of the platform. They are deploying new technologies and test processes from fields including machine learning, data analytics and scenario-based testing. The consistent use of cloud technology also facilitates the creation and integration of a highly scalable virtual testing environment.

CI/CT factory standardizes test and integration landscape

Volkswagen can already leverage internal Group synergies in developing software for its fully networked vehicles. CARIAD, the Group’s software company, is developing a standard software platform for all Group brands. neocx is a further building block in transforming the Volkswagen brand into a software-based mobility provider and has the goal of integrating the digital functions developed by CARIAD into Volkswagen’s vehicles, testing them in highly automated processes and accelerating the roll-out to customers.

Volkswagen is collaborating closely with Audi and Porsche in these activities. It is planned that the CI/CT factory will also be used by the sister brands in the future, thus harmonizing the testing and integration landscape across the Volkswagen Group. The standard interfaces will also facilitate the integration of development partners, suppliers and third-party tools.

Work on the CI/CT factory will start immediately. neocx will deploy agile methods and grow its workforce to a three-digit figure in the years ahead. The young company is therefore seeking to recruit additional experts for its main location in Dresden and its secondary location in Wolfsburg.

Article source: www.volkswagen-newsroom.com